In short
Service abroad is the delivery of a document to the addressee by the procedure of that country. The day it arrived is written on the service return. Until the return arrives, service is not treated as made. This article does not fix a number of days. The fact that the action was filed in Turkey does not by itself complete service abroad.
What the return shows
The service return shows to whom, at which address, and in which manner service was made. The address is compared with the address in the file. A date of service is not invented from an incomplete return. If the return has no signature, no date or no manner of delivery, service is not treated as completed. If it came back, the reason for the return is read as well. The reason may show that the address was wrong or that the addressee could not be found.
Whether the route is a central authority or another route is read from the request in the file. The name of the route does not shorten the period by itself. A claim about time is read together with the date on the return. The day of an old file does not complete a new service.
Which document goes
The paper that is sent may be a petition, a hearing date or a decision. Which document went is understood from the list on the service envelope. If there is no list, the request letter in the court file is read. Whether a translation is required is taken from the practice of the place it is going to and from the court's writing. This article does not say that a translation is required for every document. The requirement is in the writing in that file.
The address may have been taken from a passport, a contract or an earlier service. An address that is not current increases the risk of a return. Currency is shown from the last correspondence or from an official record. An address written by guesswork is not counted as service.
A step without service
It is not assumed that a decision will be given in absence before service is completed. The court writes the next step after it has seen the return or the sending-back. A representative cannot count a day in an internal diary as the day of service. The period runs after the return has entered the file and has been notified to the party. The form of that notification is in the court's service annotation.
A foreign arbitral award or a foreign court judgment may be the subject of the service. That decision producing a result in Turkey is a separate recognition or enforcement matter. Enforcement of a foreign arbitral award is that subject. Service does not stand in for the enforcement decision.
How the return is read
If the action is in a court in Ankara, the request goes out from that court. If the addressee is abroad, the papers go to that address. An office being in Çankaya does not change the addressee's country or the day of service. The service return and the list of documents that were sent are read first.
The date, the address and the manner of delivery on the return are compared with the request in the file. If the address is different, it is asked whether service reached that person. If there is no return at all, time is not run as if service had been made. If there is a return, the reason for the return is written in the petition. A memorised country name does not stand in for the return.
If the return is in a foreign language, its translation is placed in the file. The translation must be the same as the original return as to the date and the address. A different date does not change the day of service. What controls is the date on the return. A translator's stamp does not mean that service was made. Service is in the return itself.
If the court has asked for extra time or a new address for service, that writing is kept as well. The new address should meet the reason for the earlier return. Service sent a second time to the same wrong address does not correct the result by itself. The correct address is shown from the contract, from earlier correspondence or from an official record. It is not said that "the addressee lives there" without that being shown.
After the service return arrives, the court separately notifies the next hearing or the period for a written statement. That notification does not stand in for the foreign return. If there is a decision in absence given while the return is not in the file, the basis of the decision is asked for. If the basis is not the service papers, that is shown in the petition. The decision is not treated as lifted by itself without that being shown. A setting aside is understood from the court's new writing.
If the address has changed, the new address is attached to the petition with a document. An address without a document does not complete service.
Conclusion
The day of service is on the service return. If there is no return, service is not assumed. A number of days is not fixed in this article. The frame is on the international law page. The basis is the text of Law No. 5718 on Private International Law and Procedural Law.